The pound was the currency of the

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southern ...

. It was subdivided into 20 ''

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s'', each of 12 ''

pence A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...

''.

History

The

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

was formed in 1953, and the new

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

was created in 1955 to replace the

Southern Rhodesian pound The pound was the currency of Southern Rhodesia. It also circulated in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The pound was subdivided into 20 ''shillings'', each of 12 ''penny, pence''. History From 1896, private banks issued notes denominated in £ ...

which had been circulating in all parts of the federation (

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...

, and

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After ...

). The Rhodesia and Nyasaland pound replaced the Southern Rhodesian pound at par and was pegged at par to sterling. The Federation broke up at the end of 1963 and the three territories reverted to being separate British colonies. In the second half of 1964, Nyasaland became independent as

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

, Northern Rhodesia became independent as

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, and Southern Rhodesia declared a name change to

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

. Each issued their own pounds, at par with the Rhodesia and Nyasaland pound. See

Malawian pound Demographic features of the population of Malawi include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Region distribution Northern regio ...

Zambian pound The pound was the currency of Zambia from independence in 1964 until decimalization on January 16, 1968. It was subdivided into 20 ''shillings'', each of 12 ''pence''. History The Zambian pound replaced the Rhodesia and Nyasaland pound The poun ...

and

Rhodesian pound The pound was the currency of Southern Rhodesia from 1964 to 1965 and Rhodesia from 1965 until 1970. It was subdivided into 20 ''shillings'', each of 12 ''penny, pence''. History The Rhodesian pound was introduced following the break-up of the F ...

Coins

The Federation also issued its own coinage. In 1955 a full new set of coins were issued with the

Mary Gillick Mary Gaskell Gillick ( Tutin; 1881 – 27 January 1965) was a sculptor and medallist, best known for her effigy of Elizabeth II used on coinage in the United Kingdom and elsewhere from 1953 to 1970. Personal life Born Mary Gaskell Tutin in No ...

obverse of the Queen and various African animals on the reverse. The denominations followed those of sterling, namely halfpennies and pennies, which had a hole in them, threepences (known as tickeys), sixpences, shillings, a two shilling piece and a half crown. There were further full issues of all these coins in 1956 and 1957, but thereafter only pennies and half pennies were produced until some further issues of sixpences in 1962 and 1963, and threepences in 1963 and 1964. The higher denomination coins, though not particularly rare, are very popular with collectors because of their attractive reverse designs. Threepences and halfpennies were struck in 1964 despite the fact the Federation ended on 31 December 1963.

Banknotes

From 1956 to 1961, the Bank of Rhodesia and Nyasaland issued notes for 10/–, £1, £5 and £10.

References

External links

Rhodesian Currency
{{Pound (currency) Currencies of Africa Currencies of Malawi Currencies of Rhodesia Currencies of Zambia Currencies of Zimbabwe Modern obsolete currencies 1956 establishments in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1964 disestablishments Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland Pound (currency)